The sport of wakeboarding evolved as a derivative from skiing and surfing. The evolution began in 1985 and; at various stages in the evolution, it was called “skurfing” or “skiboarding”. Eventually, these names gave way to the official name of “wakeboarding”.
More recently, the sport of wakeboarding has seen some other spinoffs or variations which include wakeskating and surfing. These sports utilize different types of boards and these boards can vary in length, weight, and thickness depending on a manufacturer's specific design.
Boats designed specifically for wakeboarding include a tower to elevate the tow rope.
To maximize space in the passenger compartment, it is desirable to store wakeboard or board like accessories up and away from the passengers. In addition to elevating the tow rope, the tower is also used to store accessories up and away from the passengers.
In recent years, numerous designs for holding accessories have been developed for mounting to the tower or directly to the boat.
These rack systems are often referred to as wakeboard racks but are also used to hold skis, wakeskates, surfboards, or other recreational accessories. These racks generally accommodate wakeboards which vary in length, width, and thickness. Accessories other than wakeboards introduce additional variations in length, width, and thickness.
Most board storage accessories utilize a pair of fork-like devices to cradle the boards. The cradle is often referred to as a “board fork”. Often, the board forks include 1 or more slots for storage of 1 or more boards at a time.
Currently, there are two primary methods for holding the boards secure in the board forks. The board forks are generally equipped with either an elastic cord or a clamping mechanism which secures the board in place.
The conventional methods for holding the boards in place is complicated by the need for the board fork to accommodate and secure boards of varying lengths, widths, and thicknesses. The various board widths and lengths can generally be accommodated by an open fork design where the width of the open fork accommodates the widest accessory to be stored.
The elastic cord method of securing the board accommodates various board widths and thicknesses within the range of the elasticity of the cord. This method is cumbersome to perform as the user must generally pull the attached cord around the outside of the boards and attach the 2nd end of the cord to a stationary hook. Also, the board is generally free to move or vibrate within the elastic range of the cord and within the width range of the open forks.
A second method of securing a board is to clamp the boards in place. The most common method of clamping a board in place is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,795. An aspect of this patent is to utilize a spring-bias system to hold a board securely in place. Although the system allows a user to use one locking handle to actuate two clamping members that may be clamping on boards of varying widths, the boards have a tendency to lift up or vibrate as the forward motion of the boat generates a wind force that overcomes the force of the springs.